The 2017 Thomas Fire is now only the seventh-worst by area destroyed, and is likely to be overtaken by the Dixie Fire raging through the state’s northern forests as climate change makes wildfire season longer, hotter and more devastating.
“One of the things that I learnt in the course of making this film is these fires happen all the time – over and over and over again,” said Walker.
“It’s just terrible proof of the thesis of the film. I didn’t mean to be proven right, or to make such a topical film, but that’s where we find ourselves.”
“Bring Your Own Brigade”, released in United States cinemas on Friday, takes a wide-ranging look at the causes, conflicts and possible solutions that swirl around the increasingly deadly wildfires in the western US.
It begins with harrowing footage of two fires in November 2018 that devastated Malibu and Paradise – two Californian cities at different ends of the socioeconomic scale – in which 88 people died.
The movie focuses on the characters and personal stories of emergency responders and stubborn residents who have since returned to live in communities that were reduced to ashes.
Along with tales of heroism, the film quickly finds that many of those most affected by the wildfires are often the most reluctant to change their behaviour.
Malibu residents voted down a proposal to pay more taxes to fund more firefighters, instead turning their ire on the emergency officials who they say failed to save their homes.
And the city of Paradise rejected a series of cheap and effective proposals to help prevent further tragedies, shunning solutions as simple as a law requiring 1.5m of “defensible space” that must be cleared of vegetation around homes.
‘Prescribed burns’
While addressing climate change directly, the film also explores other causes of wildfires that should, in theory, be easier to fix.
It makes the seemingly paradoxical case that large-scale logging – a solution proposed by former president Donald Trump – makes wildfires worse.
The deadly Camp Fire in Paradise ripped through a nearby timber plantation and was able to spread rapidly through thickly planted trees, logging debris, and invasive species such as highly flammable grasses.
Walker also talks with members of indigenous groups such as the Plains Miwok, who protected themselves from massive wildfires for centuries before Europeans arrived by lighting small, carefully managed “prescribed burns”.
The practice, designed to remove hazardous vegetation, is becoming increasingly common again in California, although residents often oppose it over safety fears and air-quality concerns.
“When we’re not in this emergency state, it’s hard to want to make compromises and sacrifices,” said Walker, who has received two Oscar nominations, including for the 2010 documentary “Waste Land”.
“I think that’s not uniquely a American thing, although it is perhaps epitomised by the gun-toting American individualist.”
This year’s fire season suggests that attitudes will need to change fast. By the end of last month, the number of acres burned in California was up by more than 250% from 2020, itself the worst year in the state’s modern history.